DENVER, CO – NOVEMBER 18: Wide receiver Brandon Stokley #14 of the Denver Broncos makes a catch for a touchdown against cornerback Shareece Wright #29 of the San Diego Chargers during the second quarter at Sports Authority Field Field at Mile High on November 18, 2012 in Denver, Colorado.

Brandon Stokley may have Peyton Manning to thank for extending his career.

But Manning is robbing Stokley of consideration for the award of NFL comeback player of the year. Manning figures to capture the honor in a rout after he missed the entire 2011 season to heal from four neck surgeries and is now the league’s leading passer.

But Stokley had essentially been let go by three teams in the previous two years and had just one catch for 7 yards last season. Like Manning, Stokley is 36 years old. Unlike Manning, Stokley’s career figured to be finished after a brief stint with the Giants last year.

Instead, the “slot man” was Manning’s top receiver Sunday in the Broncos’ 30-23 win against the Chargers with four catches for 55 yards, including a 31-yard TD.

“Brandon is one of my favorite teammates of all time,” said Manning, who played four years with Stokley for the Indianapolis Colts. “It’s fun to be reunited again on the same team. He has made a lot of plays for us all year.”

Stokley has 32 receptions and five touchdowns through 10 games.

A good day. Turns out Elvis Dumervil, who left the win at Carolina with a shoulder injury, showed enough in Friday’s practice to convince coach John Fox he should be in the lineup Sunday.

Dumervil started the game and had a sack on the Chargers’ last play from scrimmage to finally slam the door on any comeback attempt.

“I thought we had a pretty good feel on Friday’s practice,” Fox said. “We went with it. It was a huge play for us.”

Said Dumervil: “I always stay confident. I knew my situation. … I felt like I was going to be able to go.”

Back to work. The Broncos lost an opportunity just before halftime to put themselves in position for a long field-goal attempt.

After a Manning pass to Lance Ball for 12 yards, the Broncos did not get the ball back to the umpire, the official who spots the ball before each play is run, in time to run another play, so the final seconds ran out.

“That’s something we’re going to have to practice more,” Fox said. “I don’t think we located the umpire quite quickly enough. You know, that’s on us. We’ve got to do a better job of preparing our players in that situation.”

Injury report. In addition to running back Willis McGahee’s right knee injury, the Broncos had other injuries.

Defensive end Derek Wolfe suffered a right thigh injury, but he returned. Wolfe and Thomas will be evaluated further Monday.

Broncos close the Gates. In the teams’ Oct. 15 meeting, San Diego all-pro tight end Antonio Gates hurt the Broncos with six catches for 81 yards and two touchdowns.

This time he managed just two catches for 17 yards and was kept out of the end zone.

“We wanted to contain Gates, and I felt like we shut Gates down,” Broncos second-year defensive back Chris Harris said.

Sweet sweep. San Diego had won three in a row over the Broncos in Denver, and five of the past six. Broncos nose tackle Kevin Vickerson remembers when Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers would carve up the Denver defense.

“This is my first (two-game) sweep over them,” Vickerson said. “Our pressure was getting to (Rivers). He threw a couple of balls in the dirt, (missed) a couple of open passes.”

First-half dominance. The Broncos’ defense limited San Diego to two first downs, one by penalty, in the first half. The Chargers punted eight times.

Big hitter. After the game, Manning was greeted by, among others, Rockies first baseman Todd Helton. They were quarterbacks at the University of Tennessee together. Helton briefly started ahead of Manning. Manning went on to have 423 more touchdown passes and 148 more NFL wins. Then again, Helton has 2,420 more hits. Mike Klis, Jeff Legwold, Tom Kensler and Irv Moss, The Denver Post

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